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Today, Americans across the globe give thanks for the things that are important to them; Freedom, family, friends, and french fried onions. In between sneaking chunks of turkey off of the cutting board, I would like to take a moment to give my sincerest thanks to all of you who support my friends and me in our quest to raise money for Doernbechers Children Hospital last month. When all was said and done we raised $1,050 for the kids, over 210% of our original goal! Better still, all of us managed to stay (half) awake for the full 24 hours:

As I sit here organizing strangely shaped dice, stockpiling coffee, counting British infantrymen, and figuring out who’s going to bring the Ouija board I would like to take a moment to thank those who have supported my efforts thus far. My comrades and I have raised nearly $500 for Doernbecher Children’s Hospital, and it is all thanks to the generosity of donors like you.

If you have not already donated, it’s not too late! Simply follow this link and click “Support Me.” Every electronic penny is tax deductible and directly helps kids in need of serious medical care.

I’m on a mission to save kids, and I need your help. My local Children’s Miracle Network Hospital, Doernbecher Children’s Hospital, treats thousands of children each year, regardless of their family’s ability to pay. These kids are facing scary stuff like cancer, cystic fibrosis, and injuries from accidents to name just a few.

My close friends and I have all shared a passion for gaming for much our lives. Through gaming we have learned and practiced critical skills such as decision making, critical thought, patience, and how to play well with others. Seeing as we had helped ourselves so much, we decided that it was time use our skills to help others.

Thus, we discovered Extra Life. On October 25, 2014, my close friends and I will be participating in this huge worldwide celebration of the social impact of gamers of all kinds, from video games to board games to tabletop RPG’s. We in particular will be playing board and role-playing games for the entire duration of the event: 24 hours straight. (Of course, all 24 hours will be recorded and posted in all its sleep-deprived glory!)

It’s my sincere hope that you’ll find it in your heart to support my efforts with a monthly pledge or one-time gift that will go directly to our hospital. Your donation is tax-deductible and ALL PROCEEDS go to help kids. To donate, follow this link and click the “Support Me” button.

Thank you for your time and donations. In the timeless words of the wise sage Wil Wheaton: Play More Games!

My first scheduled official Mazamas club climb for this season was cancelled due to weather. The first that actually took place was Middle Sister on June 28-29, 2014. Here are some photos from the trip.

We started at the Pole Creek Trailhead, several miles southeast of the town of Sisters. This area was burned several years ago during the Pole Creek wildfire, and still shows the effects

Off we go

We set up camp at the base of Hayden Glacier, which runs down the east side of the saddle between Middle and North Sisters

The summit is in the clouds during the evening before summit day, but the weather forecast said it would clear during the night

The view of North Sister from my tent at 4 AM the next morning shows the forecast was accurate

The team assembles to start the climb

We head up the Hayden Glacier. Middle Sister is the summit to the left, already in sunlight

We arrive at the top of the saddle, on the ridge running along the spine of the Cascade Mountains. The Willamette Valley is to the west, and Central Oregon is to the east

The view to the north: North Sister is very close; Mt. Washington, Three Fingered Jack, Mt. Jefferson and Mt. Hood poke through the clouds. Mt Adams is barely visible in the far distance (hard to see in photo)

“Formal” summit shot

Cool fisheye lens photo taken by another team member with his GoPro; South Sister in the background. We could see as far as Mt. Shasta to the south

Middle Sister as seen from Pilot Butte in Bend

Interactive Google Earth Track of the climb. Blue track is Day 1; red track is Day 2:

On Tuesday morning I got an email from a friend of mine, a Mazamas Climb Leader, saying that weather conditions on Mt. Hood looked great for a climb Thursday morning, she was trying to put together a group to go, and did I want to be included? After checking my work schedule (yay! no meetings all day), and checking the home calendar with Beth, I responded in the affirmative. So I met with 3 of the others at one of their houses in Portland at 11 p.m. Wednesday to car pool up to the mountain, where we met up with the fifth climber in the Timberline Lodge parking lot for a 1 a.m. start. After hiking uphill several hours we arrived at the large “Hogsback” snow ridge in the summit crater, the spot where technical climbing really begins. After pausing to put on our harnesses and dropping off our hiking poles, we decided to head up the eastern “Pearly Gates” route, which these days is a steeper and much more technical route than the more popular “Old Chute” route to the west (interestingly, the Hogsback drifts back and forth from east to west front year to year, and the 10-15 years ago, the Pearly Gates was considered the easy route). Here’s a few photos from the trip.

A moustache, a bit of a runny nose, and freezing weather is not a good combination

The group arriving at the top of the Hogsback

Lisa heads up the Hogsback to scout out whether or not the Pearly Gates are passable. We ended up taking the “left chute” right near where the Hogsback tops out

I’m just about done with the traverse over from the Hogback to the entrance to the chute. High angle snow face, necessitating kicking in steps in the snow and a tool in each hand. The ice tool that I got as a Christmas present from the family came in handy

Lisa leads up through the chute; Dave and Amy wait to follow

I’m almost at the top of the chute; Lisa at the rope anchor on the right; Dave chillin’ near the summit

At the summit, with Mt. Jefferson in the distance: me, Dave, Amy, Lisa, and Tommy

Me stylin’ in my new prescription glacier glasses. Beard does a good job of catching frozen drool

The Hillsboro Community Youth Choir presented their winter concert “Northern Lights – Songs from the Lands of the Aurora” on December 15, 2013. It included songs in Swedish, Norwegian, Finnish, Polish, and French, including this one by the Encore Choir Boys: “Dans Les Chantiers” (The Winter Camp), a French Canadian lumberjack song. It tells the story of a young man’s miserable winter in the “chantiers” (shanties). When he doesn’t get paid, he vows never again to return to the camps. A bad online translation (I’ll try to find a better one):

Here winter arrivesThe rivers are frozen

It’s time to go to the woods

Eat lard and bits of peas

In the yards we will be wintering

Poor traveler! you have to misery

Often you sleep on the floor

In the rain, bad weather

At the rigor of all time

When you arrive in Quebec

Often you make a big beak

You’ll see your bourgeois

That is sitting there at his desk

I would like to be paidFor the time that I have given

the bourgeois is in bankruptcy

And sent back to you eat crusts

When you return to your father

Also to review your mother

The snowman is at the door

And the good wife makes the diner

“Ah! Hello! So, my dear child

We have you brought ben the money?”

What the hell the yards

Never of my life to return.

Here’s a recording of the entire concert (except for two songs flagged for copyright reasons by YouTube):

With Erin in town for a few days for the Christmas holiday during a break from grad school in Chicago, we took an opportunity for the whole family to hike the Dog Mountain Trail in the Gorge that Ruairí and I had done previously. We got a bit of a late start and Beth had to be back in town early, so we turned around at the viewpoint at 1600′ shown here. Still, with Portland socked in with persistent fog, it was nice to get above it into the beautiful sunshine for awhile. Afterwards we stopped and had lunch at the Big River Grill in Stevenson, WA, a popular stop for Gorge hikers.

This was Ruairi’s first year playing his tuba at the annual Portland Tuba Christmas concert. Tuba Christmas is an event that takes place in over 350 cities around the world each year. It is open to anyone who plays a tuba (or member of the tuba family). This year in Portland there were 300 (yes, that’s three HUNDRED) tuba players who gathered for a morning rehearsal & afternoon concert in Pioneer Courthouse Square. There is nothing else in the world that sounds like 300 tubas playing Christmas carols in 4-part harmony!

The players ranged in age from 10 to 78, and they played tubas, sousaphones, baritones, euphoniums, and other variations of tubas. Ruairi (playing a 3/4 size concert tuba) and his friend Ryan (playing a euphonium) had a wonderful time!

This arrangement of “Jingle Bells” was written especially for tubas (there’s a musical surprise in the middle!). I’m sorry the video quality is not so good, but hopefully you can make out the row of 24+ sousaphone players standing at the back of the group. Here’s a link to the video:

The Mazamas give out various hiking and climbing award certificates every year, and make them available for pick-up at the Celebration. The easiest climbing award to earn is the “Guardian Peaks”, earned by summiting Mt. Hood, Mt. Adams, and Mt. Saint Helens on official Mazamas climbs (they don’t have to all be done in the same year). This spring and summer was my first season climbing with them, and I managed to earn the Guardian Peaks. So needing to pick up the certificate was a good-enough excuse to attend the Celebration. 😉

All and all I managed to summit 7 mountains this year. It was a lot of fun, and I’m looking forward to next year.

They did a nice job with the certificate

Mount Hood Summit

Mount Shasta Summit

Sitting on the Summit of Mount Thielsen

Summit of Mt. Adams, with Rainier Peeking through on the Right

At the Base of the Summit Pinnacle of Castle Peak in Mt. Rainier National Park, with “Big Momma” herself in the background 😉

On the Summit of Mt. Washington (the one in Oregon). Awesome Rappel on the way down 🙂

Mt. St. Helens Crater Ridge; Spirit Lake and Rainier in the background. It was very windy

The Kings Mountain hike a few weeks ago went so well that Ruairí and I decided to tackle a bigger challenge. The Columbia River Gorge is filled with many incredible hiking trails. This day, we crossed over to the Washington side to hike to the top of Dog Mountain, a popular trail. With an elevation gain of over 2800 feet from trailhead to summit, this one is a bit more daunting than the Kings Mountain Trail, and about 50% longer.

The weather was forecast to be sunny, cold, and very windy, which it was. We were prepared with plenty of layers. We were somewhat disappointed in the views, since an inversion layer made the air a bit hazier than we had hoped (I’ve been up here later in the winter, when everything is crystal clear). Even so, we had good views on Mt. Hood, Mt. Saint Helens, and Mt. Adams. We took the popular “scenic route” alternative of the Dog Mountain Trail on the way up, and took the Augspurger Mountain Trail back down, for a nice ~7 mile loop.

At the top, with Wind Mountain and the Columbia River down below

Ruairí takes the lead near the summit; Mt. St. Helens peeks above the ridge to the left

At the lower viewpoint (1600′ elevation) on the Dog Mountain Trail “scenic route”